Staff / Samantha M. Shal / Emma Petterson practices her ball handling during a recent practice for North Atlanta, which beat Flowery Branch 3-0 in the first round of the Class AAAAA state girls' soccer playoffs.

Several local teams advanced to the second round as the state soccer playoffs got underway last week.

In the Class AAAAA girls’ soccer playoffs, North Atlanta (16-2) — the top-seeded team from Region 6AAAAA — shut out Flowery Branch in its first-round game last Wednesday.

Claire Shea scored two goals, while Emma Kurtz added the other score for the Warriors, who will host Northview at Grady Stadium Wednesday.

“Our performance was fairly solid,” North Atlanta girls’ coach Robert Bramlett said. “We created many opportunities and should have scored at least a couple more goals. Defensively, we were cohesive. We did not possess the ball as much as we would have liked and the inclement weather contributed to that. But, we scored goals at opportune moments in the game and never looked back.”

Riverwood (8-10-1) — the fourth seed from 7AAAAA — saw its season come to an end in the AAAAA girls’ playoffs with a 1-0 loss to North Paulding last Wednesday.

In the AA boys’ playoffs, defending champion Westminster (10-4-5) shook off the rust from a nine-day layoff to shut out Riverside Military 7-0 in a first-round game last Thursday.

Tony Zhou scored three goals, while Sam Pastor, Justin Greenfield, John Sanders and Blake Gillikin had one goal each for the Wildcats, who played Calhoun in a second-round game Tuesday. Results were not available at press time.

“I thought we came out and played well for the majority of the game,” Westminster boys’ coach Scott Snyder said. “It is always harder to pick up your pace after so long of a layoff, but we were able to do well here.”

Lovett (2-14) joined archrival Westminster in the AA second-round after the 6AA fourth-seeded Lions upset Jefferson 1-0 to advance to a second-round contest with Coosa Tuesday. Results were not available at press time.

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